Ways of Being: Creative Non-Fiction by Pakistani Women
Edited by Sabyn Javeri
Women Unlimited, India
ISBN: 978-9385606410
194pp.

Novelist, short story writer and professor of literature and creative writing, Sabyn Javeri has done a valuable service to Pakistani women writing in English, as well as readers, by compiling the essay collection titled Ways of Being: Creative Non-Fiction by Pakistani Women.

Many names in this volume are familiar, mainly the mother-daughter duo of Muneeza and Kamila Shamsie, and others such as Uzma Aslam Khan and Bina Shah. Some are not household names amongst Pakistani readers yet, but these writers have penned poignant, heartfelt essays which deserve the wider audience this volume will hopefully provide.

The 15 essays in the book have a common theme: issues of being and belonging. In our present world of flux and frequent migration, what does it mean to be Pakistani, and how do writers express their connection to their country of origin?

These are topical questions, particularly given the growth of the Pakistani diaspora in the West and the Gulf states. As the country’s economic prospects continue to diminish and the sense of hopelessness and despair amongst ordinary people increases, more and more educated, young — in many cases, not-so-young — Pakistanis are packing their bags and looking for greener pastures abroad.

A compilation of 15 essays by Pakistani women tackles issues of what it means to be Pakistani, and how do the writers express their connection to their country of origin

But can any of us — and I speak of those who have grown up here and have strong family ties — ever really escape?

The authors in Ways of Being approach the question in different ways. For some, there is a new understanding of the choices their parents — particularly mothers — made and the pressures they faced. Others look back at the obstacles they overcame to accomplish their goals or follow their dreams. Some write about friends or relatives now gone, while a few of the essays are less personal and more ruminations on the state of society.

Amongst the essays in the first category, Taymiya Zaman’s touching piece on her mother’s diary, titled ‘Riffat’s Diary’, stands out. For Zaman — a professor of history at the University of San Francisco — the diary is an insight into the life of someone she loves and is close to, but doesn’t really know as a person.

She is intrigued by how her mother was ahead of her times regarding her views on marriage and the roles that women adopt. She is perplexed by the dark undercurrents in the diary, where her mother muses on death and violence.

But when she tells her mother that her diary reflects a young feminist, her mother is not impressed. She doesn’t see herself as a trailblazer and, in fact, objects to Zaman seeing her writing through a gender studies lens. There are many layers in this piece of writing, as it touches on the complex relationships between women.

Actress, writer and human rights activist Faryal Gauhar’s reflections on her mother’s work in women’s health in Pakistan’s Northern Areas sheds light on how things have changed, or otherwise, over 20 years. But the tone of ‘Golden River’ is not hopeful and the effects of the tragic death of a young man that she witnesses, permeate the narrative.

Another interesting piece is ‘Fear and the City’ by Sadia Khatri (originally published in Eos), founder of the feminist initiative Girls in Dhabas. She talks about navigating public spaces in Karachi over time and how she had to adjust after returning from abroad, where she had grown used to walking freely in cities where women are ever present and visible in public spaces.

Khatri has memories of how the Karachi of her adolescence was largely closed to her — as it is to most young women, in that select public spaces are typically navigated in short bursts, under clear guidelines on dress and appearance. But Khatri begins to challenge these age-old restrictions. She ventures out in “shorts and dhotis”, smokes up at dhabas [roadside restaurants] and rides a bicycle through the city streets.

Then, a mugging and potential assault, from which she makes a miraculous escape, put paid to her wanderings. Khatri is suddenly less confident and, as the essay ends, we are not sure if she will ever again feel as carefree as she did earlier on Karachi’s streets.

Another reflection on Karachi is writer, filmmaker and educator Saba Karim Khan’s heart-wrenching account, ‘Two Roads Diverged in a Wood, and I’, of life in the city after her father’s untimely death. She describes how her mother struggled to put her and her siblings through an elite school which she could barely afford and where Khan and her siblings observed lavish lifestyles that seemed out of reach to them. But then, as an adult and a teacher, the author of the novel Skyfall discovers her “song”, or her calling, which is storytelling.

On a similar theme is ‘The Reluctant Writer’ by Soniah Kamal. Kamal recounts how she grew up wanting to be an actress — much to the horror and disapproval of her family. Initially, she thinks of her alternative path — writing — as a consolation prize, something that she is “allowed” to do, but which isn’t her first choice for creative expression. Later, she realises that writing allows her to tell her own stories rather than interpreting the stories of others.

In keeping with the overall theme of the volume, some essays focus on the impacts of migration. Of these, Lahore-born New Yorker Humera Afridi’s account of life in her village in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), titled ‘Tribal Law, Tribal Lawlessness’, is striking for its vivid descriptions of rural life and of the Afghan refugee children she played with growing up.

The tribal tattoo Afridi acquires during one of her sojourns in southern KP reminds her, as an adult in the United States, of one of her young friends and compels her to check up on the latter’s experiences during the so-called ‘war on terror’.

The above are just some of the highlights of this rather well compiled anthology and I look forward to following more writing from some of the authors included here. Editor Javeri also deserves credit for pulling together such a variegated set of writings while simultaneously managing to create a structure that amalgamates the diversity into a coherent whole.

The reviewer is a researcher and policy analyst

Published in Dawn, Books & Authors, July 2nd, 2023